Welcome to the Quilts of Valor Group!

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Hi Sharon: I have been quilting for just a year and have just completed my first patriotic quilt top. My plan is to donate it but I am slow at completion so nothing has been done there yet. The pattern I used was on the cover of the Dec Quilter's World magazine, called American Valor. I fell in love with it and searched and searched for all of the fabrics. I finally found them in March in Florida.

My issue now is that I would like to do something a little different for the backing but don't have any ideas. Is there someplace that has very simple quilt patterns that could be used for a backing on this quilt?

I have attached a pic of my top. I am quite proud of it as it was quite a challenge for me. Thank you for any info you can give me.

Your fabrics are very patriotic and will work beautifully. I've been collecting red, white, and blue fabrics for about a year to make a QOV. I'm sure I have more than enough but so many projects in the works that I haven't started yet. One of these day.

Good to know this information Sharon. I can understand privacy policy and all but it's too bad.

Hello to all in this group which I just found and joined. I've been collecting red, white and blue fabrics for about a year with the hopes of getting involved in QOV. Discovering this group and it's support is encouraging and I look forward to making quilts for the organization. My father served during WWII, husband served during Viet Nam, and my son served 5 years in the Navy during the Iraq conflict. I have former students serving in various branches of the service and try to stay in contact with them and support their mission.

Recently I was on a shop hop bus trip and talked with a gal who was involved with QOV and she recently started making quilts with her Air Stream group. I'm going to share what they do under her leadership and if anyone is interested, I'd be glad to lead similarly. Sometimes making a whole quilt can be overwhelming and other stuff gets in the way of finishing, but making one or two blocks is more do-able. She chose a pattern. The Split Star pattern would work nicely since it's readily available to all. People from all over the country in her group made a block or two using the pattern and recommended colors... red, white, blue, tan, gold. The specific fabric line didn't matter, just the color, but it had to be "quilt quality fabric". When they were finished with their block, they sent them to her (the leader). Some added a little money to help with the cost of material for the backing and batting, but it wasn't required. They also sent their name, town, state, and maybe a picture to be added to the journal of the making of the quilt. When enough blocks were received, she put them together into a quilt. I think she quilted them and added the binding too. I know that she was always checking the "sale area" of the shops we visited and buying fabrics that would work into the project. I found myself doing the same! She also put together the journal of the quilt's journey and forwarded them on to the organization. It sounded like a very cool project. So far her group has completed 3 quilts with more blocks waiting for more to arrive. She showed me the pictures of the quilts and they were very nice and each block was unique. It's a group project and everyone in the group has a vested interest.

I haven't found a group in my area like some of the rest of you, but that would be fun too.

I"m also involved with a group challenge where we do weekly blocks as skill builders of sorts. I"m putting together the first quilts from the blocks I"ve already received. I've also just started collecting 9 patch blocks if anyone is interested. What I"m doing is taking 9 patch blocks made from 9 different 5 inch squares and send them to Operation Valor, Bridgette Stein, 160 Thomas Road, Shepherd, Tx 77371 and I"ll make disappearing 9patch quilts from the ones I receive. Only little picky quirk I have is for everyone to double check their 1/4 inch seams! LOL I have a bunch of wonderful blocks from the past collections that were smaller but I've made some great quilts out of them regardless! I'm so glad they were sent to me. If you're interested check out www.operationvalor.blogspot.com and it will forward you to Tina Reed's blog where all the patterns are kept! I have a crazy month coming up but will do my best to get some photos posted of the quilts I've done so far! Happy Quilting!

p.s. if you have any questions you can email me at operationvalor@gmail.com

Your fabrics are very patriotic and will work beautifully. I've been collecting red, white, and blue fabrics for about a year to make a QOV. I'm sure I have more than enough but so many projects in the works that I haven't started yet. One of these day.

mncarol, i'm ashamed to admit i haven't done anything with the fabric yet. i sent for the papers to make the triangles but haven't done a thing with them. me bad! when i heal from my carpal tunnel surgery i will get the fabric etc. out and get it started. thanks for the reminder.

Hello All, I am working on QOV's 2, 3 and 4 right now and have one on my longarm from another women. My sister has two wonderful quilts that she would like to donate but QOV will not accept them as they do not fit in their size requirements. They are 48x 60. Does anyone know another group like QOV that would accept these quilts. She really wants to donate to the vetern cause. Any info would be appreciated.

I'm the Destination Coordinator for the Quilts of Valor Foundation and I do have one location that will take undersized quilts. We do not "advertise" this location because they don't meet our minimum size requirements and also this location doesn't need too many quilts at any one time. Please go to the QOVF website and fill out the request a destination form. PLEASE add a note to the comments section (at the bottom of the form) that the quilts are undersized.

Elizabeth

From Sunny Southern CA

Hello lady's I have been a member for awhile my name is Diane and I volunteer at Quilt of Honor! The website is Quiltofhonor.org. We except all the help we can get. Please check out our website Thank You! Diane V.

Well hey Marcella! Not sure if you're talking about the same destination but I know Cynthia had put out a request for me for those 'underlings' so they would still find homes and they were perfect! I only have one left unfortunately and haven't received any for a while now. I mentioned it to Keith over July 4th when he showed me the new addition to the rec room on the bus which was a wall shelving area loaded down with quilts from one of our local Guilds!! He will be servicing the Blind Veterans Convention all this week and will also be transporting a group of veterans to a rally on September 14th. I'm worried he won't have enough for that trip. If you happen to have any extras please let me know! One of those quilts I presented to a WWII airforce POW after he rode in the vintage bomber that was shot down when he was taken prisoner and it was the first time he'd been on that bomber since then! It happened to be one made by the boy scouts and it so happens he and 4 generations of his sons, and grandsons and great grandsons were all scouts! He was so honored and touched to receive that special quilt.

As I posted recently in 'Off Topic' I feel a calling to work on QOV project. I've printed the information for requirements, fabrics, sizes etc. I initially thought participants sent a quilt top to the QOV foundation and they took it from there. That seems not to be the case. Any suggestions are appreciated such as timelines, discussions and goals. I'm looking forward to getting to know each of you as we work toward such a worthy cause. Many thanks, Donna in Oregon

I made a couple of QVC quilts. I made the tops and mailed them to a longarm quilter (QVC provided the address etc). They came back within the week, I bound them, labeled them, made pillow cases, and mailed them to the address provided. Does that help?

Any suggestions are appreciated such as timelines, discussions and goals.

Hi Donna - welcome aboard! Be sure to look on the Quilts of Valor Foundation website for possible QOV groups or people in your area. Someone in my area contacted me through the website, and today, a year later, she has spearheaded the development of a group of 10-12 women who meet weekly to make QOV's. The group distributes to recipients in the area and have even made the local paper a couple of times. Meantime - the website has a form you can complete for the name of a longarm quilter in your area who can provide the batting and quilting, and the website can also provide the address of someone who will distribute the quilt. They make it easy.